Chapter the Ninth

Iraella couldn’t get up. She knelt in her puddle of tears, giving lurching sobs. She felt Silera’s warm hand rubbing her back, but Iraella didn’t care. “I could have protected him,” Iraella said through sobs.
“Dear, you would have been kidnapped to. We must tell Calida,” Silera said soothingly. Iraella just sobbed again. She heard whispers and though her vision was blurred, she saw Eamon going to Baeddan’s front door.
Silera hugged her daughter when she heard Calida’s cry of horror. Calida rushed to Iraella’s side. “Iraella, what happened?” she asked. Iraella sat up with difficulty and wiped away tears, although she knew more were coming.
So Iraella explained even though it hurt so much to repeat. She ignored Calida’s many gasps and “what’s?” and made it through the explanation without bursting into tears. When Iraella finished, she hesitantly looked at Calida. Calida was crying.

As soon as Iraella and her family returned to her house, she knew what she must do. She instructed Eamon and Silera to take a seat on the couch and lit a few candles up. “Mother, Father,” Iraella began confidently, “I have something I must do. I realize that I am only to turn fourteen next month and have been acting recklessly lately,” she took a deep, shuddery breath before going on. “But I have to save Baeddan,” she blurted. Eamon shot up and Silera had a no-you-don’t look on her face, but before they could speak she continued. “But not just Baeddan, all of us,” Iraella paused as Eamon snorted, then went on. “Two nights ago I was sick, as you recall. I had visions. Visions of the Darks, what kidnapped Baeddan,” Iraella said.
Eamon snorted again. “Don’t be so rash,” he said. Iraella looked to Silera. “Believe me,” her eyes said. Silera’s lip trembled when she said, “I do.”

Iraella left that next morning. She wore an old tan dress that tumbled just above her knees and had her long blonde locks tied loosely in a bun. Silera had helped her pack a cloth bag full of food. “Oh dear, oh dear,” her mother kept on saying as she bustled through the garden to find vegetables. “Do you want fruit? Yes, of course you do! Oh dear, oh dear,” Silera asked.
Iraella was slightly confused by her mother’s odd, rushed behavior, but in some sense she understood. A thirteen year old going out on her own? Especially being an only child.
Once her bag was full, Eamon gave her a beautifully embroidered royal purple cloak. “Your grandmother Anteei wore it to balls,” he said solemnly.
“It’s beautiful, Father,” Iraella told him, her fingers tracing the gold and silver stitching. Eamon nodded and then withdrew a dagger from his pelt. “Just in case,” he said, handing it to Iraella. Iraella raised her eyebrows and took the dagger, placing it carefully in her bag.
When it came time for her to depart, it was a teary goodbye. “Come back soon, okay?” Silera said, tears streaming down her cheeks when she hugged her only daughter. “I will, I promise,” Iraella whispered into her ear, tears also falling from her face.
Iraella looked at Eamon and saw that his eyes were full, but he refused to let it out. “It’s okay, Father. You can let it go,” Iraella said, rushing to hug Eamon. And he followed her advice.
Iraella separated from her father and he handed her a map. “It’s a map of Niaequei,” he told her. “Thank you,” Iraella said, placing the map in her pack.
“I just want to let you know how much I love you both,” Iraella said, choking on her own tears. “And that I’ll be fine and that I will be back soon,” she finished.
And with that, Iraella Danae Qamar departed.